1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network communication system and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to a network communication system using a priority processor to use a low-end type access point as a high-end type access point and a control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an IEEE 802.11 wireless local area network (WLAN) does not use a cable to build a network system but uses air waves as a communication channel for a wireless medium, such as radio waves or infrared rays. Such an IEEE 802.11 WLAN transforms frames of an IEEE 802.11 network into another type of frame to transmit the frames of the IEEE 802.11 network to other networks. The IEEE 802.11 WLAN includes an access point for building a bridge between wireless and wired networks and stations such as a notebook, a personal digital assistant (PDA), and a desktop computer interfacing with the wireless network.
The access point can be classified into a low-end type access point and a high-end type access point. The low-end type access point provides a simple communication mode to process data of a corresponding station in the order of accessing the stations, without an additional option, so as to transmit the data to a destination. The high-end type access point provides various options and processes data of a corresponding station according to a predetermined priority to transmit the data to a destination.
In general, the low-end type access point uses a first come, first serve method to allocate priorities to the stations in the order of transmitting response signals to broadcast beacon signals to the stations and allow access according to the priorities to process data. Thus, the low-end type access point supports only the simple communication mode and enables a network to be built at a low cost. However, in a case where a corresponding station accesses the low-end type access point in a low order (e.g., later in a queue) to process urgent business, processing of the urgent business is delayed.
The high-end type access point includes multiple buffers whose priorities have been determined to store data transmitted from each station in a buffer corresponding to a priority of a corresponding station, so as to first process the data stored in the buffer having a high priority. A buffer having a high priority is not guaranteed first access to a network to process data. However, the buffer having the high priority is given an opportunity. Thus, if the buffer does not access the network at the given opportunity, data stored in a buffer having a next priority is processed. As a result, if the data stored in the buffer failing to have accessed the network at the given opportunity is related to important business, processing of the important business is likely to be delayed. Also, multi-buffers must be installed in the high-end type access point, and the system additionally requires equipment such as a router and the like, which increase cost.
Low-priced, low-end type access points are more widely used in specific organizations such as hospitals, schools, companies, and the like during building of a network than high-end type access points requiring a large amount of cost. Thus, in a case where a low-end type access point is installed, a demand for solving a delay of urgent business according to access order due to a limited infrastructure is gradually increased.
To satisfy the demand, a method of using a low-end type access point as a high-end type access point instead of using a high-priced, high-end type access point to build a network is required.